Firm school system, firm parenting

It is about a school system that stopped allowing a 5 year old from riding the bus to school because he threw an apple core at the driver. They did not say for how long, nor if there is alternative transportation available.

The second and more important part of the story is how the boy's father responded. He and his son now get up early each morning and walk the 8+ miles to school every day as a way of teaching his son that his actions have consequences.

It also makes a statement about how important an education is the father and his commitment to parenting, since he has to walk as well.

You mean it wasn't the bus driver's fault for somehow antagonizing the child?

I love it!! I wish there was more of it!!

-- Posted by Jacks4me on Fri, Dec 5, 2008, at 12:05 PM

I love this approach of discipline. Teaching the child to appreciate what he had taken for granted.

Thanks for the comment on my blog.

-- Posted by kfernandez on Fri, Dec 5, 2008, at 1:27 PM

I once had a child spit on my child on the bus and the driver witnessed it. Both the driver and the gentleman over the buses told me the child could not be kicked off the bus, only given an assigned seat, because he was part of a state program ??? As far as I know the parents were never contacted.

-- Posted by ontheoutside on Fri, Dec 5, 2008, at 2:42 PM

And the child will probably become part of a different part of a State program as an adult.

-- Posted by stevemills on Fri, Dec 5, 2008, at 8:23 PM

I read the aritcle, that explains everything it was in Australia, if it were here in the US the father would have been charged with child abuse for making his son walk that far.

-- Posted by bellbuckletn on Fri, Dec 5, 2008, at 9:23 PM

If you believe what the child is quoted as saying,he derived nothing from a week of walking eight miles (in two and a half hours) to school but better strength for fighting.

I'd like to think he learned that actions have consequences and that he benefitted from quality time with his father.

This punishment *could* have worked whether the child was a brat or punished inappropriately.

The exercise and father-son bonding could have been a blessing.

But,if the child was just after attention,then the notoriety and his dad's sacrifice rewarded him for misbehavior.

If he were innocent or acted out to avoid problems at school or on the bus,the sentence hasn't improved his situation.

If the boy is impaired in some way,the underlying cause still hasn't been addressed.

Should there be more to the story than a five year-old tossing an apple core,then one might expect young Jack to get in trouble again as soon as his suspension was over.

(That's exactly what happened. Within three stops,he'd been banned again and the father was back walking with his son.)

If the misbehavior comes from ignorance or a cry for help,he needs a gentle response.

If he is gleefully manipulating the media,the adult authority figures and anyone else he can harass,then he needs a lesson in reality and consideration as soon as possible.

Otherwise,he will not only damage any hopes he has of being liked and respected but,someday,someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly will take him down in a way he can't ignore.

If he's very,very lucky,he won't receive his correction from a gun,knife or bludgeon.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Sat, Dec 6, 2008, at 5:22 AM

I commend the driver, children need to learn respect for authority figures.

-- Posted by michaelbell on Sat, Dec 6, 2008, at 9:53 AM

Actually,authority figures are showing respect for those in their care when they expect them to act appropriately.

Beings that have no reason or self-control can't be responsible for their own actions.

Someone else has to govern every aspect of their lives and may have that task forever.

Discipline refers to the instruction and training a being that is capable of improvement (or *disciple*) undergoes to in order to take on their duties.

If coercion,humiliation and deprivation were enough,victims of torture would be the perfect pupils and brain-washing would make perfect citizens.

If "self-discipline" equaled self-abuse and denigration then anyone who mutilated or abased themselves would make themselves stronger rather than doing themselves harm.

True discipline and penitence give power to those who embrace them.

They are gifts we must take for ourselves instead of curses put upon us by others.

The most loving,affirmative act one person can do for another is to believe them capable of handling their own freedom and regulating their own actions.

We show that belief for one another when we insist that others live up to their potential and never act in a way that is beneathe them.

When the people around us believe that we can grow beyond our current limitations,we can believe it,too and be wiser,braver,more caring and more useful than we would be if we were too selfish or fearful to try to keep learning and growing.

A person who won't take the risk of maturing isn't much better off than the person who can't.

The folks who recognize when people have a choice (and want to celebrate those persons earning autonomy over their lives) aren't bullies trying to take away pleasure but liberators trying to insure that nothing sabotages having a free and fulfilling life.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Sat, Dec 6, 2008, at 4:18 PM

He should have gotten that tail tore up by the bus driver, the principal and his daddy... then kicked off the bus. Worked for Michael Fay.

-- Posted by seedsower on Sat, Dec 6, 2008, at 9:08 PM

I don't know. It is very hard for me to second guess anyone's method of raising their children, even if I did know them very well. That being said, I do not foresee me ever disciplining any 5 year old child in this manner. At age 9 or 10, maybe. If I had to guess, this little boy shares his father's hardheaded stubbornness and his father likely knows best how to appropriately deal with it, so that the child grows up to be just like his daddy, for better or worse.

-- Posted by memyselfi on Sun, Dec 7, 2008, at 9:14 PM

Im sorry, but when I think of that little kid hitting the driver in the back of the head with the apple core, I think of the driver as Chris Farley like in Billy Madison and I cant stop laughing.

Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.